Keyboard Shortcut Question from newbie.

[inlimbo]

Hi,

I got my new PB a few days ago and Im learning how to use OS X for the first time. I love it by the way. But I am having trouble with a few shortcuts.

When I use my PC to get to the "File" menu in an App I press the "Alt" button on my keyboard and then use my arrow keys to navigate the various menus - edit, format etc... How do I do this in OS X? Can u do it?

Im just finding it annoying because Im writing an essay in Office 04 for Mac and I want to use the "Alt" key so that I can go to the "Insert" menu and then use the down arrow to get to "Footnote". I hate doing this with my trackpad - because Im new to using trackpads so im a bit slow.
In OS X u can create ur own shortcuts can't you? Can I make a shortcut to Insert->Footnote in Office '04 for Mac?

NOTE: This is not a PC user winge but an honest question I love my new Apple and I wont be going back!

Cheers,
inlimbo...

 

[Logik]

sadly i can agree that this is a needed thing... unfortunately in nearly the year i've had my powerbook i have not figured out WHY in the LIVING HECK apple does not allow this... it's a basic thing that is needed, why should we be FORCED to use a mouse.. or memorize stupid keyboard shortcuts for EVERYTHING when we can simply use a shortcut to get to the menu's... i asked this question before and no one could tell me how, simply because you can't... i guess you can by turning on the accessibility thing, but even then it's just not the same. same goes for the ability to increase fontsize THROUGHOUT the system... major headache.. Tiger should include the ability to fix the system font size thing. but i'm doubting it helps in the keyboard shortcut arena at all... i'm waiting for a good way to do this, so keep me informed !

 

[mkrishnan]

With regard to custom shortcuts, it can be done, and it would be done from System Prefs -> Keyboard & Mouse -> Keyboard Shortcuts. But I've never done it, so I'll defer on that.

For keyboard access to the menu bar, this is also available from the same place. Go to this prefs pane, and then Select "Turn on Full Keyboard Access" at the bottom. Then, if you scroll down in the list, you will find "Focus on Menu" as an item listed under Keyboard Navigation. It should be defaulted to ^F2. You can change it to something else that is not commonly used elsewhere as a shortcut. I have mine set to ctrl-tilde, which doesn't seem to be popularly used for anything else.

Once you've done this, press your hotkey for opening the menu, and the Apple menu will automatically open. From there, you can use the arrow keys to navigate around the menus.

EDIT: I just wanted to add, based on the way that the function keys are handled on Apple laptops, if you do not change the hotkey from ^F2, it may be Ctrl-F2, or it may possibly be Fn-Ctrl-F2, because your laptop is probably setup to do the special action (change brightness) when you just press F2, and to give you access to the actual F2 function key only when you press Fn-F2.

 

[inlimbo]

Thanks Logik and mkrishnan!

mkrishnan I took ur advice and now use ctrl-~ (I hope u havent copy-righted it ) as my shortcut for focus on menu. You can easily add shortcuts in Microsoft Office by going to Tools-Customize-Shortcuts. Ill probably add a shortcut to Insert->Footnote later.

The other one im having problems with is an alternative for Tab. If u say go to the Print window in any windows app, can use the tab key to navigate through the various options/boxes. Can't do this on OS X. I'll look for a solution and post it.

inlimbo...

 

[mkrishnan]

The other one im having problems with is an alternative for Tab. If u say go to the Print window in any windows app, can use the tab key to navigate through the various options/boxes. Can't do this on OS X. I'll look for a solution and post it.

Have you tried it again since you turned on full keyboard access?

EDIT: I should mention there are a few idiosyncracies, in comparison to Windows. To get a combo box to drop down, you have to press space (there may also be other keyboard shortcuts for it, but you cannot just press down arrow to change the selection before pressing the key to drop the box down).